Sumatora Jinkoh

Part of our Jinkoh Series, and Agar Aura's first-ever Sumatran oud oil, we are very excited to present Sumatora Jinkoh.

We had to be very picky in choosing the right jungle for the raw material. The agarwood had to be from one of four jungles of North Sumatra to accurately replicate the unique scent profile of Sumatora (寸門多羅) wood of Japanese Rikkoku-Gomi kits.
Veer off too far from the right jungles (and the right species, and the necessary high quality of raw materials), and the resulting oil would be entirely different.
We decided on Barus, a northwest Sumatran coastal jungle, and the raw material displayed all the salient scent notes we were after.

With a character that truly defines 'island jungly', Sumatora Jinkoh is an oceanic oud, with a predominantly dry-woody character that trumps the driest of Cedars, and an addictive medicinal-oudy base. Not medicinal in an abrasive way, but rather more like a cup of aged Yue Guang Bai puerh tea - deep in the core but with delightful brighter nuances exalting it.

Staying true to the archetype set forth by the Japanese incense masters, we had to ensure that Sumatora Jinkoh displayed 'salty' (oceanic) and 'sour' (fruity) notes.
But at the end of the day, this oil is meant to be worn as perfume, so to tastefully maintain the oceanic notes we had to tame the saltiness.

Our two-fold solution turned out to be quite effective.
Firstly, we went with a hybrid copper+steel setup. The steel imparted the necessary dry (think straw or papyrus) and bitter elements necessary to balance out the marine qualities, whereas the copper brought out the subtle honeyed nuances as well as a subtle apple rind aroma which emerges as the oud develops on the skin.
Also, the temperature was gently fluctuated when extracting the heart notes to really make the incensey notes 'pop'.

Those of you who are familiar with ambergris will be delighted to find a healthy dose of silver ambergris notes in the heart of this oud, crowned by sweeter highlights of golden ambergris in the top notes.
The end result is quite marvelous.
Instead of smelling like damp seaweed or salty beef broth (i.e. most Sumatran oud oils), you get a sparkling fusion of dry woods and ambergris (imagine a 40:40:20 mix of Manaka Jinkoh, golden ambergris, and silver ambergris). A complete perfume.

Like your ouds sparkly, oceanic and fresh? Sumatora Jinkoh is the oud for you.

Taking
time out with Sumatora alone on a Sunday duvet day, day
dreaming
through the beautiful thought journeys this oil can take
you also has
its addictive place too. How wonderful.
A.B. (UK)

Love the woodiness of the Sumatora Jinkoh - and amazing
scent arising on the drydown.
J.M. (USA)

It
was worth waiting on; this is beautiful. And to think
that I almost
missed out on ordering a bottle of it! Everyone who
ordered your
Sumatora Jinkoh as a sample but didn’t seize a bottle of
it then,
should retest it now before you sell out. I actually
find that I like
it as much as your remarkable Manaka Jinkoh.
M.I. (USA)

Just to dab a bit on my wrist and live and experience
the extraordinary perfume for a number of hours is a
joy.
J.B. (UK)

Sumatora is unlike any Sumatra oil I smelled so far, it
is so well balanced and nice.
A.K. (France)

I
am very drawn to its crisp feeling. It has that quality
that Ketenangan
Jumaten and [...]. It is basically what I look for
in an
oud.
B.J. (USA)

Holee...I
don't have the words to describe this oil. There
are so many
incredible scent profiles going on all at once, but it's
not a jumbled
mess. Each note rises up for a fleeting second
only to be
replaced by another...all the while with a constant mild
green
undertone holding it all together.
This is fantastic!
S.P. (Canada)

Sumatora
starts off with slight salty note of classic sumatran
oil just like the
first wiff of slowly heated sumatra chips on KZ burner.
Its like this
oil is filtered through pristine glacier waters where
all that is left
is sheer brilliance.
F.A. (UK)

Sumatora also amazes me. Although I
don't have extensive experience, I have not smelled an
oud like it. The
salty and sour aspects really do bring to mind a jungly
oceanic image.
This oud is softer on my skin than Rakkoku and keeps the
salty/sour
profile for a very long time.R.W. (USA)

This one is a very
pretty oil! The drydown..... oh myyyy.. Ok, before
that takes
place (lol), from the swipe, there's a burst of fresh
moss and vanilla,
yet with just barely perceptible humidity or dampness
underneath. In
fact, initially, I swiped twice, just to experience that
mossy vanilla.
It's remarkably close to a Borneo in some ways, and
that's probably the
reason the notes form such a fantastic balance (and
eventually
cohesion): it evolves into something so complete, so
whole, so fresh
but gentle, so sweet but woody.... I can't even explain
this precisely,
this scent is like a creature all of its own! Once fully
in drydown,
there is literally not a single note I can pull out,
other than ghostly
haunts of experiences past, which are coaxed out every
time I take a
whiff: sometimes I catch powdery warmth of amber resin,
sometimes warm
sandalwood, other times I swear I'm wearing the most
luscious ambergris
attar! It's probably fair to say that ambergris is a
unifying factor
here since I seem to go back to it again and again. And
soooo
incredibly refined! In essence, this is one of those
oils that's a
true, complete perfume. Not even a complex, layered oud,
but a seamless
fragrance. Btw, vanilla never quite leaves the scent,
but evolves, and
imbues it with what eventually becomes the tenderest
animalic confiture
to ever grace one's nostrils. And while I love
Manaka, I will be
getting this one first :) C.G. (USA)

The Sumatra jinkoh has
some
similarities to Jumanten for sure. I put one of each on
separate wrists
and they share beautiful wet qualities. Dry down on
Sumatora is strong,
in a good way. Love it. M.N. (Canada)